Human EvolutionEditor: Saying he is ''disturbed by the...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Saying he is ''disturbed by the dogmatism of Darwin,'' letter writer Jerome Minot questions, ''did man really evolve from the apes?''

Darwin never made such a statement.

He did believe that humans and apes had evolved from a common ancestor.

Gordon H. Himmer.

Baltimore.

Campus Security

Editor: With the recent focus on campus security at Towson State University, the big question has become, ''Who bears the ultimate responsibility -- the students or the police?''

Perhaps Towson State does need more police coverage. However, the Spanish Armada couldn't protect Towson State unless the students start taking on more responsibility.

As an area coordinator at Towson State, I manage one of the high-rise residence facilities identical to the building where the rape occurred this summer. (By the way, it was not an incoming freshman who was raped, but an upperclassman who was assisting with orientation.) These residence halls rival Fort Knox in their security system. You must get past four locks to get from the front door into a student room.

After the first rape occurred, my staff decided to try an interesting approach to their on-going security programming. They solicited volunteers to stand outside the residence hall asking to be let in. All volunteers were men, and were dressed in a variety of styles, from derelict to prep.

Over the evening, 65 residents were approached. All 65 students not only let the strangers into the building, but into the elevator as well. Once our ''perpetrators'' had followed the residents to their room, they were then given a card which read, ''Thanks, I could have attacked you. . . .''

Unless students seriously change their attitude toward building security, the only solution to our problem is to raise tuition $20,000 per person, and provide each student with a personal security guard.

Peggy Hoffman.

Towson.

Offenses

Editor: We all admit we are overseas to protect our oil interests and to prevent harm to Saudi Arabia. If we are helping a friend, shouldn't the friend permit us to continue our normal lifestyles? Our troops are hostages in Saudi Arabia if they are not allowed the same freedoms as they have in America.

Why can't we send the women who normally entertain troops with our comedians? How can we send men to protect foreign interests when they forbid the religious freedoms we find sacred? Some of our men must take their religious affiliation from their dog tags. Why must Catholic priests hide when they preside over a Mass? Tell the Saudis to stay off the base.

Harry S. Wolf.

Baltimore.

What War Does

Editor: It is sometimes true that a nation's vital interests are so greatly imperiled that war becomes necessary.

However, it should always be understood that war will usually enrich the already rich, and result in the death of the young, the poor and the powerless.

In our country, a war should have overwhelming support of the nation, not 51 to 49 percent but more like 90 to 95 percent approval. It is the responsibility of our elected representatives to make the case for war undeniably justified.

George Bush is not King George. He cannot take us to war unilaterally. He has succeeded in boxing us into a position where war seems almost inevitable.

The editorial pages and the air waves are filled with him and his minions who are mostly unelected. They issue war-like statements and offer conflicting arguments for war. These people, like Henry Kissinger, William Safire, Jeane Kirkpatrick and Brent Scowcroft, to name just a few, are the same old cold warriors and they seem to dominate.

Congress, on the other hand, is ducking the issue. There was no debate that I could detect during election time.

Congress and the president have ducked serious consideration of the deficit and the budgetary process. They have ducked the consequences of the savings and loan debacle. They have ducked the corruption of the electoral process by the rich.

If they duck the consequences of a war with a divided population, I fear we may see the demise of representative democracy in this country.

Shimon Mednick.

Baltimore.

End Segregation's Handicaps

Editor: On Nov. 3, The Sun printed a letter from Charles and Kathy Kozlowski stating their strong belief in the value of separate education centers for the handicapped. Unfortunately, this letter misrepresents the beliefs of the Maryland Coalition for Integrated Education (MCIE).

MCIE is not "advocating for the mainstreaming of all special education students into regular schools." MCIE advocates for the law to be obeyed -- for a student to be segregated only if the services he or she needs cannot be provided in an integrated setting, or if the student, for some justifiable reason, needs to be segregated from typical students.